“Snow Date” for Ruddigore Performance by the Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society
Dear Patrons, Contributors, Fans and Friends,
As you know by now, the Saturday evening performance of Ruddigore was cancelled, disappointing audience and performers alike. While all the performers were already in the building Saturday and could have (and wanted to!) deliver the evening show, school officials and Middletown police had to cancel the performance in order to prepare the school for service as a community shelter for residents without power.Most of the town was indeed without power for several days.Even our webmaster was unable to post a cancellation announcement on our website.
We deeply regret the inconvenience and disappointment caused by this unpredictable event.For those who purchased advance tickets for the cancelled show, we will exchange yourunused tickets for seats at our next year’s Gilbert and Sullivan production.When purchasing your tickets for next year, mention this notice and your replacement tickets will be issued.
In addition, to make it possible for you to see this year’s production, we have arranged for a full screening of the Saturday afternoon Ruddigore performance. It will be at the Middletown High School, 200 LaRosa Lane, at 7:30 pm on Monday evening, November 28.Manyof the principals will be available to meet those in attendance and to answer any questions you may have about them or the production.
The screening on November 28 will also be open to the public. Donations will be accepted to help replace revenue lost from tickets normally purchased on the evening of the performance.
CG&SS is committed to continuing its tradition of excellence and adding to the culture of the area.From the bottoms of our hearts, we thank you for your support.
How quickly time flies by - the annual CT Gilbert & Sullivan Society production is upon us this weekend (10/15-17.) Now in its 30th year, CGS&S has done a tremendous job keeping the often brilliant and hilarious work of Messrs. Gilbert (book and lyrics) and Sullivan (music) in the public's ears and eyes.
You have 3 opportunities to see "The Mikado" in the Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, LaRosa Lane. Performances are 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. For ticket information, call 1-800-866-1606 or online at www.ctgilbertandsullivan.org.
The Buttonwood Tree presents singer-songwriter Mary Ann Rossoni & Band in concert tonight at 8 p.m. Her music is described thusly: "cross-generational, original, acoustic rock n’ roll-or in today’s terms, Americana-ish." Her bio reads "Mary Ann grew up outside of Providence in Johnston, graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now lives in Providence. She runs a successful design firm and is also an accomplished painter." Should be a good night for this kind of music and The Buttonwood is a good venue to watch music.
On Saturday at 2 p.m., The Russell Library presents internationally acclaimed pianist Andrew Armstrong. He will perform a variety of classical compositions including works by Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Debussy, Chopin and Bartok.Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, he has delighted audiences around the world. He has performed solo recitals and appeared with orchestras in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. Andrew has also performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.He has appeared with the Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi at the Caramoor International Music Festival, and as a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City.
The concert takes place in the Hubbard Room and, like all the great concerts at the Library, is free and open to the public.
Also on Saturday, The Buttonwood Tree presents Mr. Isaac Allen who is celebrating the release of his new CD, "Don't Smoke", a collection of tunes with roots in jazz and blues. Accompanying the pianist/vocalist will be Steve Klunk on upright bass, Dave Boskello on trumpet, Jeff Gittleman on guitar, Matt Oestreicher on organ, Scott Lebish at the drums and Sara-Joy on vocals. Might be a bit crowded but the music should be worth squeezing in the space.
Friday November 6: The Buttonwood Tree welcomes back the Grass Routes Bluegrass Band, the Connecticut-based quintet led by the husband-and-wife duo of Bill Reveley (mandolin, guitar, vocals) and Marilyn Toback-Reveley (guitar, vocals.) Joined by the 3 J's (Joe Lemeris on banjo, Jack Jolie on guitar, and bassist Joe DeLillo), this is a band whose repertoire ranges from traditional tunes to contemporary folk and country songs. To find out more, go to www.grassroutesbluegrass.com. For reservations, call 347-4957.
The Middletown-based CT Gilbert & Sullivan Society proudly presents Messrs. G & S's "The Pirates of Penzance" Friday through Sunday in the Performing Arts Center of Middletown High School, LaRosa Lane. Featuring almost 50 actors and singers as well as a full orchestra (conducted by Dr. John Dreslin), the play actually debuted in the United States (New York City, New Year's Eve 1879), 4 months before hitting the London stages. Featuring one of the most recognized songs in the G & S pantheon ("I Am The Model of a Modern Major-General"), the story is quite funny and the music highly enjoyable. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. show on Sunday. For ticket information, call 1-800-866-1606 or email to tickets@ctgilbertandsullivan.org. Click on the troupe's name above for more information about the cast and the organization.
The Boston-based Eilen Jewell performs "American Roots Music" at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. The show, originally scheduled for this past July, features Jewell's top-notch band (Jason Beek on drums, harmony vocals, Jerry Miller on electric, acoustic and steel guitars and Johnny Sciascia on upright bass) as well as one of the finer young Gospel groups, the Sacred Shakers. Comprised of Daniel Kellar (violin), Eric Royer (vocals, banjo), Greg Glassman (vocals, acoustic guitar) and Daniel Fram (vocals, acoustic guitar), the Shakers and Ms. Jewell's trio have a great time onstage and that translate well to the audience. For ticket information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call the Box Office at 685-3355. To get a taste of the music you'll likely hear, go to www.eilenjewell.com/.
If it's American soul, r'n'b music,, rock or popular standards you're craving, go down to Boney's Music Lounge and catch Mass-Conn Fusion in performance. Hopefully, there'll be room to dance because this sextet really knows how to "get in the groove." The first set begins at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday November 7: The Book Bower, located inside the Main Street Market, welcomes author Marilyn Taylor McDowell, for a 3:30 p.m. reading. She's the author of "Carolina Harmony", her first book for young readers (ages 10 and older) - a synopsis of the story follows: "Carolina’s a runaway hiding out at Harmony Farm. Mr. Ray and Miss Latah treat Carolina as their own. For 10 years she lived easy with her parents in the North Carolina mountains. But it feels risky speaking about the accident that claimed them and her baby brother. And Carolina won’t reveal the year of living with Auntie Shen, her surrogate grandma who took ill and was taken away or how she, Carolina, had to live in foster homes. Then Russell, a troublemaker from the foster home Carolina ran away from, secretly comes to Harmony Farm. Believing he’s a friend, Carolina sneaks him food and takes the blame for his pranks, until one night, when something so terrible happens that Carolina runs away again." The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 704-8222.
A busy day at Wesleyan, what with homecoming weekend, a football game and a slew of seminars (to find out more, go to www.wesleyan.edu and click on "calendar".) For the arts-oriented folk, the day belongs to 2 Amys. At 1:30 p.m., author and essayist Amy Bloom reads and answers questions about writing in Memorial Chapel. Bloom, a local resident and author of "Away", "Love Invents", "Come to Me", and "Normal", is a contributor to The New Yorker and teaches at Yale. Her newest collection of short stories, "Where the God of Love Hangs Out", will be published in January 2010 by Random House. This event is free and open to the public.
Vocalist/songwriter Amy Crawford, Wesleyan graduate (2005), has been living in New York City since her time on campus and is slowly but steadily becoming known as a singer with great style and a strong voice. Her influences include the Beatles, Dido, Janis Joplin, Elton John, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder and producer Jon Brion (Aimee Mann) and her own songs are exciting as well as melodically rich. She returns to Middletown to perform at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. For tickets, call the Box Office at 685-3355.
The Floating Theater Company, the group of writers and actors that meets weekly at the Green Street Arts Center, presents a new work titled "Craig's List Missed Connections" at 7 p.m. in The Buttonwood Tree. The theatrical evening is described thusly: The staged readings are all based on a writing prompt requiring the writers to create a new work by culling the listings found at Craig's List: Missed Connections. The evening will conclude with Open Mike with the suggested theme being an expansion on the idea of missed connections. The program is directed and coordinated by Nine Dechamps, the artistic director of Acts Factory Players in Collinsville, Connecticut. Participating playwrights include Jean Wertz, Erin Striff, Jenny Lecce, Forrest Stone, Tony Palmieri, Rachelle Minkoff, Matthew Pollack and Michael Ennis." For more information, call 347-4957.
Poet/playwright/actress Terri Klein sends the following press release: "The Readers Theater" is a lively evening of new Jewish literature read by its authors. Featured readers include Michelle Cameron, reading from her new historical novel "The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz" (Pocket Books, Sept. 2009). Based on the life of the author’s thirteenth-century ancestor, Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, a renowned Jewish scholar of medieval Europe, this is the richly dramatic fictional story of Rabbi Meir’s wife, Shira, a devout but rebellious woman who preserves her religious traditions as she and her family witness the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Other featured readers will be Green Street Arts Center Teaching Artist in Creative Writing Sari Rosenblatt, reading from her novel-in-progress, Middletown radio personality and writer Richard Kamins, poet-activist Paula Panzarella, poet-memoirist Devorah Rubin as well as Ms. Klein. A wide variety of other books of Jewish interest will also be available for purchase." The event, free and open to the public, takes place at 7 p.m. in the main auditorium of Congregation Adath Israel, 8 Broad Street in Middletown. call 346-4709 for more information.
The 28-year-old Middletown-based Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society will revive "Patience," in October as a benefit for St. Vincent DePaul Place, which served 80,000 meals to the needy and homeless last year. "Patience" is a satire on the aesthetic movement which flourished in Britain between 1870 and 1885, chief proponents of which were Oscar Wilde, Algernon Swinburne and James Whistler. The work pokes fun at affectation and excess in cultural fads and ubiquitous commercialism. Performances are Oct. 24 and 25 at 8pm and Oct. 26 at 2pm in "the old Middletown High School" (now Woodrow Wilson Middle) on Hunting Hill Avenue.
This comic masterpiece premiered in London in 1881; Oscar Wilde was handsomely paid to lecture on the work in the States prior to its tour. "Patience" was moved to the lavish Savoy Hotel and Theatre, built for the presentation of G&S works; it was the first theatre to be lit by electric light. "Patience" is now enjoying revivals, recordings and DVDs made by many international companies.
Featured in the CG&SS revival are Dave Henderson, Katherine Yeager and Jeff Soun Long of Middletown, Allan and Victoria Church of Meriden, Bill Ziegler of Chester, Carol Connolly of New Haven, Kathleen Thompson of Hebron, Caroline Ismail of Waterford, Hal Chernoff of Simsbury, Renee Haines of Southington, and Don Shirer of Westbrook. There are 50 performers, a 23-piece professional orchestra, and a production staff of 25 artists, stage hands, costumers, set designers, painters and administrators. Sue Sweeney is rehearsal accompanist. Robert Cumming will direct and Dr. John Dreslin will conduct.
Fifty percent of profit from "Patience" will be matched 50% by the Mayor of Middletown. Tickets are $25 (adults) and $15 (students) prior to Oct. 19; adult tickets are $30 thereafter and at the door. Checks to CG&SS may be mailed to CG&SS, Box 2152, Middletown, with a small self-addressed, stamped envelope enclosed.
The revival/benefit is aided in part by Pfizer, Bank of America, and the Middletown Foundation for the Arts.
